CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 56: THE TEAM WITHOUT A CLUE

While Stan Sol was concluding its complete domination of Baharo, Qi Liu and his team were still on the mountain, struggling to find Hustace.

Some things are easy to say but difficult to do. Qi Liu’s earlier declaration, "I’ll go find the Young Master in the mountains," had sounded quite satisfying and impressive. But now, on this vast mountain, all he could do was keep climbing towards the peak.

Finding any trace of him was proving exceedingly difficult. His knowledge was too limited to conduct an effective search on this path. After all, he wasn’t a Hunter, but an inexperienced Politician. He lacked tracking skills; his judgments were merely the instinctive reactions granted to him as a "natural-born Politician." Often, these reactions played a crucial role. For instance, Young Master Hustace managing to slip away from his entourage and ascend the mountain so easily was a testament to the positive effects of these instincts. However, a lack of experience meant these "key roles" could only function sporadically. Young Master Hustace had indeed ascended the mountain alone successfully, but the fact that the unfortunate young master suffered from frostbite due to the night mountain winds (something Qi Liu was still unaware of) indirectly illustrated that these "instinctive reactions" were still too naive to manage an entire situation. It was conceivable that for Qi Liu’s "instinctive reactions" as a natural-born Politician to truly play a decisive role in entire events, he needed much, much more experience.

And this search for the Young Master on the mountain was clearly an excellent training opportunity for him...

During this training, difficulties were bound to arise one after another. These difficulties were key to enhancing the talents of a natural-born Politician. Qi Liu’s judgment, foresight, and decision-making abilities would inevitably be tempered amidst these challenges.

However, Qi Liu couldn’t hear these words. Even if he could, they would offer no help to his current predicament.

The few "companions" beside him complained incessantly, especially the Alchemist and the Witch he had insisted on bringing. The Witch was hunched over, and a few complaints after continuous mountain climbing were understandable. But the young Alchemist’s pointless complaints seemed deliberately derisive.

Yet, for the moment, Qi Liu couldn’t find a good way to respond to the Alchemist’s derision. After all, every taunt from the Alchemist hit the mark. He truly didn’t know what to do next. More seriously, he didn’t even know how to proceed up the mountain... Many things seem easy but are difficult in practice.

There were many forks in the mountain path, and he wasn’t sure which one to choose. Moreover, he considered another serious problem: what if Young Master Hustace had taken a different fork? With so many diverging paths, which direction should they search? They couldn’t possibly check every single one.

In fact, when Hustace ascended the mountain, he hadn’t been troubled by these forks. Firstly, at that time, there were still many Treasure Hunters on the mountain. People were coming and going. Hustace, wearing his Invisibility Cloak, simply followed the crowd. Many of the numerous forks on the mountain had been blazed by these Treasure Hunters. They had over-exploited this mountain, yet they hadn’t found anything they wanted, not even a single wild beast. Secondly, even when Hustace did encounter a fork, he quickly made a choice, always selecting a path that looked more like it led to the summit.

Qi Liu’s indecision was changed by the Fighter who kept muttering about "idiots." This Fighter, who had been forced into the group, quickly took on the role of guide for their small detachment. Whenever they reached a fork, he was always the first to shout, "This path is closer to the peak!"

Since he couldn’t find any clues to follow, Qi Liu decided to take a gamble. He resolved to stick to his agreement with the Young Master: to meet at the summit. (In reality, Hustace had indeed kept his promise and arrived at the summit early, waiting for him).

"I say, my great Speaker, can you tell us what we’re supposed to do after we reach the summit? You just keep walking and walking. When will this end? Are you leading us to the Hall of Death? That place would really suit someone like you," Axia had long grown tired of the pointless trek. Moreover, the fact that his repeated taunts had failed to produce any desired effect was a significant blow to him.

Axia felt that with his relentless Verbal Attacks, that stolid fellow Qi Liu should have been agitated by now, perhaps even retorting. But this fellow showed no reaction at all, like a block of wood. No, not just wood—he was like a stone on the road, hard and dull. If one wasn’t careful, one might even trip over him.

His lack of reaction is blatant contempt for me! Axia thought resentfully. No, not just for me; it’s contempt for the entire Alchemy Workshop!

Axia had always believed he should be the leader of this small team. With the powerful Alchemy Workshop backing him, everyone should revolve around him. But things hadn’t gone as he wished. Initially, he had played a dominant role in the team, but after they started ascending the mountain, his presence had been progressively stripped away. Complaining was his supposed panacea, but it hadn’t produced any effect for so long that he was reaching a breaking point. This was no longer just a matter of shame; it was a challenge to his very visibility!

As a member of the Alchemy Workshop, he refused to accept such a state of affairs. Although he was merely an Alchemy Servant in the Alchemy Workshop, not yet having reached the rank of an Alchemist Apprentice, he believed that "even a starved camel is bigger than a horse." This Alchemy Servant would sooner or later enter the Golden Twelve Seats, and the whole world would worship him... Precisely because of this, he had to change the current situation. His derisive words became as vicious as he could make them. He hoped his attacks would enrage the other party, causing him to lose his senses, so Axia could reclaim leadership of the team.

However, none of this had any effect... Qi Liu remained unresponsive.

Seeing his offensive ineffective, Axia changed his target. His aim was merely to use this new target to mock Qi Liu further. He had tried this method many times on the road, which was nothing more than dragging the nearby Witch Biggs into his ridicule to further provoke Qi Liu.

"Our Witch, hurry up and do some Divination for us! It’s no solution to keep wandering up the mountain so aimlessly. You’re the one the great Speaker specifically requested! True, so was I, but this great Speaker hasn’t given me any reasonable arrangements. I have myriad talents, yet no chance to display them!" Axia had repeated such words so many times that even if others’ ears hadn’t grown calluses, they would at least be itching.

"I... I’ve already said Divination requires a Crystal Ball." Witch Biggs, dragging her heavy body along, was tired enough already from this journey, and being repeatedly taunted by this young Alchemist left a bitter taste in her mouth. However, despite her inner discomfort, she showed no outward sign of abnormality. She, Witch Biggs, was after all a person seasoned by years; she wouldn’t be broken by such low-level Verbal Attacks.

Besides, for a Witch, could Axia’s sarcastic words even count as Verbal Attacks? Where did that leave the incantations and curses of Spellcraft!

Axia’s idle talk was like a fly; ignore it, and it’s fine, but engage with it, and it becomes endless. This fly buzzed around Witch Biggs. She’d wave a hand, and it would fly away, but soon it would return, buzzing, sometimes tickling her nose, sometimes trying to enter her ear...

Witch Biggs was already very tired from climbing the mountain, her hunched waist seeming to bend even lower. These "flies" were still buzzing and annoying her. Her face, weathered by years, gradually began to twitch; her patience seemed about to reach its limit.

"Aren’t Witches supposed to be seers? The great Speaker thinks so highly of you; you should repay his trust! Otherwise, where will the great Speaker hide his face?" Axia continued his "Verbal Attack."

"Hmph!" The patience in Witch Biggs’s heart had been stretched to its breaking point. It seemed she was about to unleash all the helplessness and grievances she had suffered these past few days. This "Hmph!" contained far too many uncertain factors.

"Without a Crystal Ball, there’s another way to perform Divination. But it requires eyeballs. Young man, I see your big eyes are watery; they’d be just right to substitute for a Crystal Ball in Divination."

"You... Uh, I think the great Speaker’s eyeballs are quite good. You could try his," Axia retorted. He hadn’t expected this hunched old Witch to fight back. He had intended to intensify his offensive, but remembering that his true enemy was that "stone," he changed his attack.

"No, your eyes are the most suitable. Watery, most like a Crystal Ball. Well? Are you willing to contribute them?" Witch Biggs bit down especially hard on the word "contribute."

Axia hadn’t anticipated this. He was, after all, too young and no match for Biggs.

"Or, you could use your remarkable Alchemic Exchange Spell to swap for two watery big eyes. Weren’t you just shouting about not being able to display your abilities?" Her usual tolerance was merely to avoid trouble; did they really think she was a soft persimmon to be squeezed? Witch Biggs’s resentment was palpable.

However, Biggs would rather die than use eyeballs for Divination because she was a genuine black-robed Witch. That kind of eye-gouging Divination was something Dark Wizards did; she wouldn’t touch it. She had only heard a little about these Dark Arts. Although she hadn’t achieved much in the domain of Spellcraft and had yet to determine which faction of practitioners she belonged to, she would never dabble in such things.

Witch Biggs’s counterattack clearly had an effect. Axia’s face turned various shades of pale and green, not a pretty sight. The youth who previously couldn’t stop talking now seemed mute.

Qi Liu was not affected by their bickering. He didn’t care whether the Witch gained the upper hand or the young Alchemist won the verbal battle. All his thoughts were still on the problem of finding Hustace’s trail. He had previously thought the breakthrough was the Invisibility Cloak, but on the way up the mountain, he hadn’t found any clues, and his hope for this breakthrough had all but vanished. But just now, the argument between the Witch and the Alchemist had shown him a spark that might reignite that breakthrough. A Witch should know something about that Invisibility Cloak. Perhaps Witch Biggs could find out the price required to use that Invisibility Cloak.

Just as Qi Liu was preparing to ask Witch Biggs, the Fighter, who had been ignored most of the time, suddenly spoke. Musa pointed to an unusually large stone and said, "We’ve... reached the summit of Dawn Peak!"